Police made several drug-related busts over the weekend resulting in over 70 pounds of marijuana, 2 grams of crack cocaine, a little less than $10,000 and eight arrests.

The first bust happened last Friday just after 2:00 p.m. when police who had set up a checkpoint between mile 15 and 16 of the George Price Highway noticed a vehicle that turned around before approaching the checkpoint. Police pursued the vehicle and found it abandoned in the parking lot of a Hattieville supermarket.

Police found 24-year-old Geovanni Requeña and 26-year-old Ellis Requeña inside the store with the key for the vehicle and a search of the trunk revealed two sacks of marijuana totalling 32,470 grams or 71.5 pounds.

Both men were charged with drug trafficking.
The second bust happened around 2:30 p.m. that same Friday after officials at the Belize Central Prison caught 25-year-old Natasha Lewis attempting to smuggle in 109 grams of marijuana to an inmate.
The prison officers alerted the police, and Lewis was subsequently taken to the Hattieville police station and charged for drug trafficking.
Later that afternoon around 4:20 p.m., police searched an Antelope Street home with the assistance of a 0K-9 Unit dog and found two small zip lock bags containing 1.2 and 1.5 grams of crack cocaine, respectively.

Police also found a total of $9,790 in US and Belize currency.
A 55-year-old man, Ardulio Torres Mason; 43-year-old Noe De Jesus Martinez; 33-year-old Mayra Lopez; and two minors were all arrested and charged with drug trafficking.